Rural Fire Service volunteer Ian Wells has been found guilty of negligent driving causing a woman's death

Rural Fire Service volunteer Ian Wells has been found guilty of negligent driving causing the death of Katina Mihailidis in October, 2012 after a judge found he should have waited 11 seconds for cars to pass before attempting a U-turn on the freeway at Mount White.

A jury in May found him not guilty of dangerous driving causing Mrs Mihailidis’s death and dangerous driving causing grievous bodily harm to her husband Peter Mihailidis.

On Wednesday District Court Judge Peter Berman found Wells guilty of two back-up charges that he was criminally negligent and should have foreseen that a U-turn in a slow-moving Rural Fire Service truck could result in a crash.

Mr Wells was called to a concentrated orange juice spill at Mount White weighbridge station in October, 2012, and later to a multiple vehicle crash further south along the freeway.

He attempted a U-turn at a freeway U-turn bay after a call to return to the weighbridge station to help clean up the juice spill.

Judge Berman rejected Wells’s argument that he was legally entitled to make the U-turn because he was driving a fire truck, saying there was no evidence that he needed to respond urgently to events at the weighbridge.

The court heard the Kariong brigade fire truck was travelling at only 10-15kph when it entered the northbound freeway carriageway, and Mr Mihailidis flashed his car lights on high beam and changed lanes.

Judge Berman rejected Wells’s argument that it was reasonable for him to interpret the flashing lights as a signal for him to continue his U-turn.

“It was entirely possible that Mr Mihailidis flashed his lights as a warning and moved into lane 2 at the same time to avoid the danger which he could see approaching from his right,” Judge Berman said.

“It would not be unreasonable for the driver of a car approaching an emergency vehicle to expect the driver of the emergency vehicle to stop and wait the 11 seconds it would take to allow the approaching car to pass.”

The court heard Mrs Mihailidis died after their car collided with the fire truck on the freeway, and the Mihailidis car was then struck by another car after Mrs Mihailidis released her seatbelt following the crash.

Judge Berman rejected Wells’s argument that the driver of the second car was responsible for Mrs Mihailidis’ death.

“The cause of Mrs Mihailidis’ death was the manner in which the accused drove the RFS tanker that night,” Judge Berman said.